Hogan Racing

Hogan Racing was a racing team owned by Carl G. Hogan, owner of Hogan Trucking.

Sports cars

Hogan Racing began in the early 1970s racing in the Formula 5000 series out of a shop in Lime Rock, Connecticut across the street from Lime Rock Park. It moved to St. Louis, Missouri in 1973.[1] The team began racing full-time in the Formula 5000 Can-Am series in 1974 with David Hobbs with its own car for the series. The car was later driven by Al Holbert. However, as the 1980s dawned Hogan drifted away from the sport, only to return at the end of the decade when Hogan began working with Chip Ganassi.[1]

CART Champ Car

Partnerships with Rahal and Penske

The team joined the world of open-wheel racing in December 1991 as Hogan and Bobby Rahal purchased the distressed Patrick Racing CART IndyCar World Series team. The team won the championship in its first try in 1992 with driver Bobby Rahal on the back of four race wins. In late 1992 the team absorbed TrueSports and moved into TrueSports' facility in Ohio and began using TrueSports' proprietary chassis in 1993. However this proved disastrous as Rahal and teammate Mike Groff both failed to qualify for the 1993 Indianapolis 500 in the car. Rahal switched to a Lola chassis for the next race while Groff soldiered on with the RH01 until August.

In 1994, the team was the first to sign on with new engine manufacturer Honda. The team again struggled at Indianapolis and Rahal borrowed cars from Team Penske to get himself and Groff into the field. Rahal finished 3rd and Groff crashed 28 laps into the race.

In 1996, Rahal and Hogan split and Hogan formed Hogan Racing and Rahal led Team Rahal. For 1996 Hogan partnered with Penske Racing to field Emerson Fittipaldi's entry. Fittipaldi was injured in a crash at the Michigan International Speedway and retired from the sport and Jan Magnussen replaced him for the rest of the season.[1] Fittipaldi finished 19th in points and Magnussen 24th in their partial seasons.

Independent team

For 1997 Hogan went off on his own and signed rookie Dario Franchitti and selected Reynard chassis with Mercedes-Benz-Ilmor power. Franchitti finished 22nd in points with a best finish of 9th and signed with Team KOOL Green before the season's end, prompting Hogan to bench Franchitti and put Robby Gordon in his car for the final race of the season at California Speedway.[1] For 1998 Hogan signed ex-F1 driver J. J. Lehto.[2] Lehto, despite his credentials, only managed 20th in points with a best finish of fifth at Surfers Paradise. 1999 brought in second-year driver Helio Castroneves full-time and pay driver Luiz Garcia, Jr. for a handful of late-season road races. Castroneves finished second at Gateway International Raceway and won the pole the following week at the Milwaukee Mile as the highlights of a season where he finished 15th in points. Hogan signed Castroneves under the condition that Castroneves' management team led by Emerson Fittipaldi would generate $3 Million USD in sponsorship for the team. However, the sponsorship did not materialize and Castroneves and Hogan began to be forced to pay for operations out-of-pocket. Due to the mounting losses and little prospects for sponsorship, Hogan decided to shut the team down at the end of the season.[3]

Carl Hogan died in January 2001 at the age of 71[1]

Drivers

Racing results

Complete CART FedEx Championship Series results

(key) (results in bold indicate pole position) (results in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year Chassis Engine Drivers No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
1996 Penske PC-25 Mercedes-Benz IC108C V8t MIA RIO SFR LBH NAZ 500 MIL DET POR CLE TOR MCH MDO ROA VAN LAG
Brazil Emerson Fittipaldi 9 13 11 25 20 4 10 4 25 20 22 14 25
Denmark Jan Magnussen 26 22 8
1997 Reynard 97i Mercedes-Benz IC108D V8t MIA SFR LBH NAZ RIO GAT MIL DET POR CLE TOR MCH MDO ROA VAN LAG FON
United Kingdom Dario Franchitti 9 25 9 12 13 27 17 16 13 26 11 26 19 11 25 13 13
United States Robby Gordon 8
1998 Reynard 98i Mercedes-Benz IC108E V8t MIA MOT LBH NAZ RIO GAT MIL DET POR CLE TOR MCH MDO ROA VAN LAG HOU SFR FON
Finland JJ Lehto 9 14 29 18 16 10 9 19 26 25 28 24 20 15 18 8 28 10 5 21
1999 Lola B99/00 Mercedes-Benz IC108E V8t MIA MOT LBH NAZ RIO GAT MIL POR CLE ROA TOR MCH DET MDO CHI VAN LAG HOU SRF FON
Brazil Hélio Castroneves 9 17 9 19 21 25 2 26 26 26 16 27 25 7 7 5 8 26 26 21 20
Brazil Luiz Garcia, Jr. 21 24 DNS 16 15 DNS

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Pruett, Marshall. Hogan's Heroes, Speed, October 17, 2008, Retrieved 2011-01-17
  2. ↑ CHAMPCAR/CART: Hogan signs JJ Lehto, CART PR via Motorsport.com, December 5, 1997, Retrieved 2011-01-17
  3. ↑ McGee, Ryan. One turbulent ride for Castroneves, ESPN, March 24, 2009, Retrieved 2011-01-17
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